Feature One: The Midnight Meat Train (2008)… 98 min
Feature Two: Creep (2004)……………… 85 min
Combined Length: ………………… 183 min (3h 03min)
The Midnight Meat Train.
Directed By: Ryuhei Kitamura.
Written By: Jeff Buhler & Clive Barker.
Starring: Vinnie Jones, Bradley Cooper, Leslie Bibb & Brooke Shields.
Creep.
Written & Directed By: Christopher Smith.
Starring: Franka Potente, Sean Harris & Vas Blackwood.
Why Travel Any Other Way?
There is something inherently disturbing about being on an underground station, particularly at night (though part of the disturbance stems from being dislocated from the time of day) and especially if you are on your own. It’s not so bad when it is crowded, you are too busy jostling and trying not to get knocked over by the other commuters to pay any real attention to the shadows that hide the labyrinth around you. But when it is empty, when the footfalls echo off the walls and the litter skitters across the platform unperturbed; then the place takes on a whole new character.
It is in this atmosphere, which this weeks Double Bill revels in. The Midnight Meat Train tells the story of a man who becomes intrigued by a spate of mysterious disappearances and feels compelled to follow the trail into the winding network of tunnels that run beneath the city. While Creep centres around a woman who finds herself trapped in the deserted London Underground by accident, trying to find a way out before realising that she may not be as alone as she thinks.
Ideal Viewing Conditions.
Sitting on a cold, hard metal bench staring at the clock as it rhythmically counts toward the arrival of the very last train of the night. You look up and down the platform and find that you are alone, flanked on either side by the gaping mouth of a tunnel whose gullet promises no light. The train is late but still you wait in hope that it will arrive and deliver you safely home. You suppress your growing anxiety and paranoia by pacing the platform for a few minutes.
Eventually, with a sigh, you accept the inevitable certainty that the train is not going to come, that you are stranded far from home and with nowhere else to go. There will be no cosy bed for you tonight; neither is there so much as a station announcer for company. Better crank the old lap top up and watch a couple of films until dawn brings the first train of the day.
Soundtrack Highlights.
“Big Black Sky” By Chaser (The Midnight Meat Train)
“I Am Controlled By Your Love” By Helene Smith (The Midnight Meat Train)
“Madder” By Grove Armada (Creep)
“Soundsplatt (Timo Maas Remix)” By Butterich (Creep)
Six Degrees of Separation.
Christopher Smith wrote and directed Creep and would later direct Severance starring Danny Dyre who is everyone’s favourite luckless drug dealer in Human Traffic [oh, wait… that was last week]
Forgive me for wasting time, but this weeks ‘Six Degrees’ is ridiculously straight forward:
The Midnight Meat Train >>> Vinnie Jones >>> Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels >>> Vas Blackwood >>> Creep.
Okay, Fine. I’ll do it properly (but only because I like you) : The Midnight Meat Train is based on the short story by Clive Barker and can be found in his Books of Blood collection. Another story from this collection, The Forbidden, was adapted into The Candyman starring Tony Todd who was also in The Rock alongside Sean Connery. Connery was in The Man Who Would Be King [and who thought we would be visiting that film here] teaming up with fellow heavyweight actor Michael Caine who recently starred in future-classic Harry Brown, which featured Sean Harris who is the Creep. [There, happy now?]
Ambiguous Associations. [Spoilers May Follow]
Not so much with the ‘ambiguous’ this time around, more like two films which use the exact same central premise to achieve the exact same goal i.e. ‘You never know what’s living beneath your feet’ and ‘doesn’t that just scare the pants off you.’ There are some differences however, like how The Midnight Meat Train explores much more of the world on the surface and forces us to consider our place in the food chain, while Creep is much more confined and focuses on how loosing touch with the surface can really mess you up (in regards to both Kate and Craig in one way or another). Also, neither antagonist possesses the ability to say very much.
It would be possible to fit these two films together if you accept that The Fathers (those creatures at the end of The Midnight Meat Train, credited in the original short story as the founders of the city) are an ancient and international order which dwells beneath each of the major cities (Indeed, the story does reference a tradition that dates back to Jack the Ripper which could be a connection to London.) If this is the case, then perhaps Craig is one of them who has somehow become separated or exiled from the group or he/it could maybe even be a Halfling which/who has been raised in isolation. You could do that, if you like, but I feel that Creep works better if you keep the antagonist… well… ambiguous. [So disregard everything I just said.]
Further Reading.
- The Time Machine (1960) – based on H.G. Well’s 1895 novel – provides the archetypal sub-human, subterranean horror in the Morlocks.
- For more grisly goings-on in the London Underground system see Death Line (aka Raw Meat) (1973).
- The Midnight Meat Train is based on a short story by Clive Barker, published in Books of Blood Volume One (1984).
- Continuing in the literary vein, Kim Newman’s The Terminus (published in Fantasy Tales in 1985) is a short story about “Sixteen thousand people lost in the London Underground.”
- How To Get Ahead in New York (published in Gauntlet 4 in 1992) by Poppy Z. Brite takes place in the Port Authority Bus Terminal. While not, strictly speaking, set underground, it does tap into the ‘public-places-look-different-after-hours’ vibe.
- For more claustrophobic tunnels with sun-shy mutants living at the end of them, take The Descent (2005).
Summary.
Two films which will make you think twice before taking that last train home, because you can never quite be sure who or what is peering back at you from the faceless darkness or what monstrosities are flickering past your window as you hurtle ever deeper. Enjoy your journey and I hope you reach your final destination.
Random Insults to Sanity 